CWSA Bowling Pin Match

The weather was spectacular, with temperature approaching the high 80's, and hardly a cloud in the sky. Fortunately there was a bit of a cool breeze to keep it a little more comfortable. It was a bright day, and seeing the red dots in the sights became a problem.

KeeWee and I showed up at 9am. and got signed in. She planned to shoot the new High Standard 103 Sport King/Sharpshooter with a red dot sight in the rimfire optical class, and being a glutton for punishment, I entered my Taurus model 66 .357 with a red dot sight in the revolver class. I also entered a 12" barreled High Standard ML-106 with a red dot in the optical sight rimfire class, my Smith & Wesson model 422 with a red dot (one of those inexpensive Barska's) also in rimfire optical, and a 7" barreled High Standard Military in the rimfire iron sight class.

After the centerfire auto's finished qualifying, it was time for the revolver qualifying. You shoot four tables of pins against the clock, and the total of your 3 best tables determines your first round opponent. LouG had loaded up some .38 ammo to try, and I decided to shoot one cylinder full in qualifying and see how they worked. Although I managed to get the pins off the table, it was like throwing marshmellows at the pins! Today Lou broke some of the ammo back down, and found out that the harder new bullets we were trying weren't getting enough crimp. Anyhow, I went back to my Remington Plus-P's from Wallyworld. I'll say one thing for Remington, they certainly didn't go stingy on the amount of powder in those Plus-P's. My Taurus has now been nicknamed the "Raging Bullock"! It IS kinda noisy!

On one of the qualifying tables I saw something I'd never seen happen before. I put a bullet clear through a pin, leaving a dark grey mark on the front, and it didn't even fall over. It barely wiggled! Bowling pins aren't solid all the way through, and have some empty spaces in side them so they balance just right for bowling. I apparently hit one of those pockets just right with one of those light fast bullets and it went straight through the pin.

After determining everyone's times and first round matchups, it was into the matches themselves. I didn't pay too much attention to the auto-loaders, but Pete from Custer knocked Evil Al out in the first round in the optical sight centerfire class. Then Pete came up against Kim, also from Custer, and an excellent shooter. Two tables later Kim was also relegated to being a spectator. Pete was shooting well, and went all the way to the final, and won that easily too. Nice shooting, Pete!

Evil Al usually dominates the centerfire revolver class, and he timed in fastest, coming up against BillB, the guy who knocked me out of revolver class at the last shoot. Bill is a good shooter, but up against Al, just about no one survives that! Bill pulled out some great shooting, and retired Al from the revolver class! WOW! Since this was only my second time shooting pins with the Raging Bullock, my times weren't all that good in qualifying, but respectable. John, who is now a rimfire regular, decided to give revolver class a try, and we met in the first round. Great, I figured, another new shooter like me so it should be close, and it was! We both gave it our all, and I narrowly pulled off the round win.

The way the byes worked out, I ended up against BillB in the next round. I figured I was doomed! My only hope was if he had to reload, and I was careful to get all five pins with ,my first 6 shots, I might stand a chance. Bill is twice as fast as I am, but if he reloads and I don't, it could be close! On one table he didn't have to reload, and I didn't either, and he won the table. On the next table we both had to re-load, but I had left fewer pins from the first six shots, and narrowly won the second table. On the deciding table he had to re-load and I didn't, and although I missed the first pin, I got all five with the next five shots to take the table.

That put me into the final against young Tony, who is getting better every time he shoots. Tony could see what I was doing, and realized that his "Slow and Accurate" was a whole lot faster than mine, and if he took a little time the match was his, and that's exactly what he did. I speeded up a little and pushed him a bit, but he shot smart and walked away with the marbles in the revolver class. I managed a second place, and couldn't have been more surprised to have gotten that far!

Tony is becoming a force to watch as he continues to improve both in the mental and the skill part of the game. Great Job Tony!

The rimfire pin top classes were also a lot of fun, with a number of close matches. I got my revenge on young Tony in rimfire optical as we met up in the final and I was able to turn the tables this time. Not by a lot, mind you, but just enough!

KeeWee came within tenths of a second of making her second final in a row, but trouble seeing the red dot when shooting into the sun cost her a little time and she was slow on the final pin against JimP. Overall she ended up 4th. Not bad at all!

We all had a grand time and the weather was wonderful! What a great way to spend a day!

NOTE: For more reports and match information check out LouG's blog Mad Gun